


Happy Birthday

by Lorren



Category: Legend Series - Marie Lu
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Birthday, F/M, First Time, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 14:40:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14404245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lorren/pseuds/Lorren
Summary: It's Duchess June Iparis's seventeenth birthday.  King Anden and others are coming by for her birthday party, but before they arrive, she hopes to spend some quality time with her handsome Captain of the Guard, Daniel "Day" Wing.





	Happy Birthday

Today is my seventeenth birthday.

I look out my window down to the courtyard below.  Daniel is training my security detail.  His white-blonde hair shines in the sun.  The sound of swords makes a melodious sound as it hits my ears.  I made Daniel the Captain of the Guard six months and three days ago, when I realized that he was the most qualified, even at age seventeen.

It's been one year, six months, and twenty-three days since I met him.  He used to go by Day, when he was the realm's most wanted outlaw.  He was an outlaw because, under the old king, he used to steal from the wealthy dukes and barons and give to the poor.  The old king used to take an unbearable amount of taxes from his subjects, and all of the peasants used to have to go through an exam when they were ten years old, ensuring that they were not idiots or too lame to work hard.  Any peasant who failed to pass the test was killed, although we were all told that they were sent away to the Dakota earldom to work.

Daniel got a perfect score on his exam.  Too perfect, I guess.  They tried to kill him with the other peasants that had failed, but somehow, he managed to escape.  That's when his crime spree began.

After the old king died, Prince Anden became the new king.  In a bizarre twist of fate, Daniel, going by Day at the time, managed to stop an assassination attempt and quell an uprising against his kingdom.  Day found out that Anden had planned on ending peasant exams and lowering taxes; for that, Day was pardoned of all his crimes; that's how he also ended up on my security detail.

The people love him.  So do I.

"Time to get ready, mistress."  Natasha, my lady-in-waiting, says to me, breaking me out of my reverie.  "King Anden will be there, so you'll want to look your best."

I'm about ready to fire her.  She had been acting as a semi-guardian ever since my brother, Metias, died in the uprising against Anden.  Day was originally framed for his murder, but then we discovered that it was Thomas, Metias's best friend.  I don't need a guardian anymore, and she doesn't respect my wishes.

"King Anden also knows I don't love him," I respond.  I turn from the window anyway, because I know that I have to have my hair done.

"Even still, Lady Iparis, you cannot marry… the head of your security detail.  That would be way below your station and would be scandalous.  Your parents would never approve."

"My parents aren't here," I snap.  "And I can make my own decisions, thank you."

She shakes her head disapprovingly, but she knows I'm right.  After I inherited the duchy from my brother, what I say goes, and now that I'm seventeen, I can make even more decisions on my own.

After my attendants finish my hair and dress me in a silk gown with rubies embedded in the cloth, I have about an hour before the guests are expected to arrive.  I wander the grounds and run into Daniel.  He smiles at me, wraps his arms around my waist, and kisses me.  I eagerly kiss him back.  My heart flutters, I feel a longing for more of him in my gut.

We have kissed plenty of times, although it's never gone beyond that.  The first time, he surprised me in the hallway, after weeks of discreet flirting.  I almost wanted to slap him for his impudence, but then I realized that I wanted to kiss him at least as much as he wanted to kiss me.

"I don't know if anyone's ever told you this," he said to me at the time, "You're very attractive."  His expression was so sincere, it caught me off guard.  I've had lots of people compliment me on my looks, but it's usually just to flatter me because of who I am.

I was flustered at the time and didn't know how to respond.  "I could say the same about you," I replied.  "In case you didn't know."

He smiled back at me.  "Oh, trust me, I know."  I didn't know what to think about this peasant boy who so arrogantly knew what kind of effect he had on girls, but part of me liked his confidence.  Although I know that he must have kissed plenty of other girls before me, since we met, he's only shown an interest in me.

Today, he looks gorgeous in his silk Captain of the Guard outfit.  "Happy birthday" he whispers in my ear, "Tonight."  He plants a kiss on my jaw, right underneath my ear.

"For what?" I ask.  He grins at me mischievously.

He leans forward to whisper into my ear again.  "If you want me, that is."

_Oh, I do want him_.  We have an hour; I don't want to wait.  "What about now?" I whisper back to him.

"This place is abuzz with people," he whispers back.  "We're not going to be able to get away from them."

I smile at him seductively.  "We can."

I pull on his arm, and he follows me to a spot underneath one of the castle's towers.  Fortunately, nobody else is around; I don't want anybody to see where we're going.  "I can guarantee you that that room is empty," I tell him, looking up.  It's a storage room where the tailor keeps all of his cloth.

"You want to climb that in your dress?" he asks.

"Watch me."  I wrap my skirt up so it won't get in the way of my feet, then I start climbing the stone wall.  I've climbed these walls hundreds of times before, much to the disappointment of Metias and my now-guardian Natasha.  They always tell me it isn't ladylike.  Daniel climbs the wall behind me.

We climb to the top and squeeze through the window at the top.  Inside the room, there are piles of cloth.  Daniel grabs a fur off one of the piles and lays it on the ground.

"You want to do this, yeah?" he asks, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Yes," I reply.

"I love you, June," he says, shyly kissing me.

"I love you, Daniel," I say.  I untie his cloak and it falls to the floor.  He fumbles for the strings on my bodice and finally finds them.  I pull him closer and knock him off balance; we fall onto the fur blanket together.

I've fantasized about being with Daniel for quite a while now.  We don't say anything, trying not to ruin the moment.  He is gentle and passionate at the same time.  My heart pounds as he touches me.  I don’t think of anything but him and his warmth against me.

Afterwards, he grabs a large folded cloth and covers us with it.  He drapes his arm around my waist.  "You know we're going to have to go back down there for your birthday party, yeah?"

I nod, reluctantly.  My silk dress is lying in a heap on the floor next to the blanket; Daniel's Captain of the Guard uniform and cloak is lying crumpled next to him.  Our shoes and hose are strewn on the floor next to the rest of our clothes.

I laugh.  "Natasha spent so much time making sure my hair and dress were perfect this evening, too."

"It's your birthday; you can do whatever you want."

I kiss his neck.  "I want you. Again."

"Tonight," he says.  "But not here.  I think you'll need a security detail of one in your chambers, yeah?"

"Definitely."

I think I hear voices down the tower stairs.  We must have lost track of time.  I quickly slip on my underclothes; Daniel does the same.

"I'm not sure where she went," I hear a voice, louder this time, say.  I recognize it as Natasha's.  I don't know who she could be talking to.  "But I've had our guards looking everywhere.  Her Captain of the Guard seems to be missing too."

The door to the storage room opens.  Natasha is standing there.  She is talking to King Anden.  Anden looks at us and the clothes lying on the floor around us.

"I just wanted to make sure that she had a happy birthday," Daniel says.

**Author's Note:**

> The bones of this story came to me in a dream, so I had to write it.
> 
> An update on my other Marie Lu projects: Like Normal People is probably going to be 25 chapters, but I currently have writer's block for chapter 23 and the last half of chapter 22. I expect that chapters 24 and 25 are going to be cake to write, but I can't really skip to those chapters without the chapter and a half of character development that they need. As soon as I can figure out those chapters, it shouldn't take long until I can finish publishing it here.
> 
> Although I said I wasn't going to do it, I'm about 50 pages into writing Hero, another Legend fanfic that makes a slight alteration to the end of the last two chapters of Champion and goes from there; it also introduces an original character (who is a third POV character as well). No hints, but he is introduced in chapter 2 of the story, and I'll make sure to publish chapters 1 and 2 at the same time, when I start publishing it. I'm not quite sure what I will be doing for the middle and end of this story yet; I won't start publishing it until I am done with the complete first draft.
> 
> I'm 222 pages into my Young Elites fanfic, Saving Adelinetta, and I guess it's about 2/3 or so done, at least with the first draft. I'm anxious to finish this story, but at the same time, I need to write the story that I'm most inspired to write at the time.


End file.
